First Reply In The Stacks

[Andromeda Demir]

​

The Jedi Archives were not fully open to her as a lowly Padawan, Andy had more knowledge at her fingertips in the non-restricted section than she had ever had before -- than she had ever known existed in her previous life. Even now, months removed from Irvulix (Irvulix V, she admonished herself, there are seven planets in the system), there were multiple times a day when she was forced to marvel at the size and scope of the galaxy. Truly overwhelming was it to the girl brought up on a small backwater that thought itself alone in the universe, ignorant of the wider world. It wasn't even that impressive a backwater; its only major export was the dirt that Andromeda Demir felt she was still scrubbing out from under her fingernails.

The young Padawan sat at the workstation in the library, pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingers for a brief moment. It was slightly more healthy than yanking her hair out, which is what she felt like doing. After a moment, she withdrew her hand and replaced them on the keyboard, where she performed an inefficient hunt-and-peck and retyped her search prompt: IRVULIX V. The screen spat out a response: 0 results found for query: "IRUVLIX VIRVULIX V"

Suppressing a curse, Andy jammed down the delete key until the computer made a rapid ping-ping-ping-ping sound. With a frown, she repeated her search -- more careful of the spelling this time -- and gave a relieved sigh when results began to scroll.

Then stopped.

Three results. That was all there was for Andromeda's homeworld.

She selected the first one. It was a declassified report that was over a thousand years old, and made under the auspices of something called the Galactic Republic. It was a transcription of the original document -- something on flimsiplast -- to a digital format. It laid out the results of a committee meeting that had determined that the Irvulix system was the ideal choice for the construction of a new penal colony. Andromeda frowned and paused a moment, then stood and went back to the stacks to heave a dictionary out of the shelves, cradling it gently as she took it back to the workstation.

"Penal," she muttered. "Penal, penal, penal. Hmm. Pemmican... pemoline, pemphigus, pen -- ah, penal." Her dark eyes took in the description, and she frowned thoughtfully as she read it under her breath. "Of, relating to, or involving punishment, as for crimes or offenses. What?" She looked back to the computer screen, nose wrinkling as she studied the screen. "Irvulix V was a prison?"

​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Life once moved at a brisk pace on Coruscant. Shortly after Cora had returned to the Jedi, the weeks had worn on agonizingly slow. There was no active war to focus her attentions on - the Maw had disbanded shortly before she'd been married off, and the Sith in the Outer Rim didn't seem intent on launching another violent campaign into Alliance space anytime soon.

At least, that was what she'd been told. Who knew what was really going on behind the curtain.

There were rumblings of conflict with the Mandalorains, but that too was distant from Cora. She would not be allowed back on active duty until Valery cleared her.

The endless silence of the library didn't provide much solace, but the menial task of returning tomes to their proper spaces kept her busy. Not busy enough, but she could not complain when granted a second chance in life.

"Penal, penal, penal. Hmm. Pemmican... pemoline, pemphigus, pen -- ah, penal."

Peeking in between the shelves, Cora spied a young woman seated at one of the information terminals, shifting her focus between a book and the screen. Murmured words were too soft for her to hear, but the threads of surprise in her tone tugged at the blonde Padawan's interest.

Cora stepped back and adjusted the cart she'd been pushing to one side of the narrow aisle.

"Excuse me," Her voice was soft and even as she approached the young woman at her workstation. "Is there anything that I could assist you with?"

Not that she could actually help with much of anything, a realization only had after she'd spoken. She wasn't a steward of the library, more of a volunteer. And, more unnervingly, an unintentional donor to the library's vast collection of works through the Lady Velvet novels she'd anonymously penned.

Still, Cora smiled, demure and pleasant. She did her best to keep curious eyes from straying towards the monitor.

"Are you undertaking research?"

Andromeda Demir

 

[Andromeda Demir]

​

Andromeda nearly leapt out of her skin; she had thought she was alone because, until then, she hadn't been shushed by the librarian for muttering under her breath like she sometimes was. She hadn't been open to the Force enough to sense the approach of the golden-haired woman. The weighty dictionary leapt with her, then landed awkwardly on her unbalanced hands, and she slammed it to her chest to keep it still before it could continue its recklessness.

Pulse thundering in her ears, stiff, she turned to face Corazona. When she realized it wasn't the dragon lady she had encountered before, or the temple guard here to eject her for being too loud, she forced her tension to ratchet down a notch, two notches. Far from a dragon, she looked not far from Andromeda's own age. Perhaps another Padawan?

"Sorry. Sorry -- I was -- talking. In the library, sorry," she said, in a not-quite stutter. Reflexive, based on the context of her experiences in these halls. Only when she had raced past the point did she grasp it, and after a brief pause, Andy said: "Sorry, I -- yes, actually." A tentative smile. "I was looking up Irvulix V. That's... it's where I came from. You wouldn't -- do you know it?"

Andromeda shut the dictionary on that word, that horrible word and tossed a guarded glance at the computer screen. "Hardly anyone does and I think I just learned why." She paused a moment, chewing the inside of her cheek. Then, impulsively, the young woman said: "How do you know if something is true in there?" Pointing offhand to the computer screen, her black brows furrowing with concern.

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

The girl startled and Cora flinched as she raised her hands, palms up. She hadn't meant to alarm her, but in hindsight, her approach likely hadn't been as noticeable as she'd thought. Oops.

"No, no, it's quite alright." Waving her hands slightly, Cora quietly attempted to dispel the notion that the dark-haired girl had been speaking too loudly. Even if she was, the Padawan had been in no position to admonish her. Finely manicured blonde eyebrows creased for a few moments in thought before she shook her head. "I'm afraid that I haven't."

No one here had heard of Ukatis - the unremarkable agrarian world Cora hailed from - until it had become problematic. An arraigned marriage, shady dealing from the crown, and a dark-side nexus, oh my!

A sympathetic smile softened her features before she followed the girl's extended finger to the screen. "Oh," It wasn't a question she'd been expecting, nor was it one she was entirely apt to answer.

"I suppose that depends on the source. Information entered into the archives is vetted, though I…am not privy to how thorough that process is." She admitted with touch of sheepishness. "But I do know that anyone can put anything they want on the holonet, true or not."

Scandalous as far as she was concerned. Cora had been raised in an affluent, sheltered household with strict parental controls on her holonet access.

"Did you find inaccurate information about Irvulix V? If you did, we should notify a librarian so that this mistake can be rectified at once!”

Just as her voice has begun to rise with fervor, a loud SSH! came hissing from somewhere among the shelves, and Cora flushed in embarrassment.

Andromeda Demir

 

[Andromeda Demir]

​

Andromeda flinched when an admonishment came hissing from the stacks, and her face darkened. She frowned and shrank back into her chair, gesturing for Corazona von Ascania to take the seat from the adjacent terminal. She lowered her voice so that whoever was trying to browse the stacks wouldn't be able to overhear her and glanced back at the screen. "I don't know if it's inaccurate or not," she confessed. "We -- "

Andy's voice broke off and she hesitated, cupping her chin anxiously. She didn't love the optics of confessing to a stranger that she was entirely ignorant as to the history of her own people, but she didn't have a lot of options, either. Schooling was all but non-existent on Irvulix V, and what education Andy had received had been vocational, preparing her for a life in the mines, maximizing the production of the village to meet its quotas. Not history. Even to ask why The City got to make all the rules and demand all the tribute had earned many a student a harsh rebuke or a stiff smack.

The padawan's lip twisted uncertainly, and she realized she was staring rather intently at Corazona as if the answer could be found somewhere in her eyes. Blanching, she looked back toward the screen. "We're not taught history, really, except about The Disaster. But this document says it's more than a thousand years old, long before The Disaster." Andy frowned and chanced a look back at Corazona, her whispering voice trembling. "It says Irvulix V was settled as a penal colony -- that means a prison," she clarified, just in case the other woman was as unclear as she was.

"But if that's true, we would all be descendants of criminals this planet --Sluis Van? -- deemed to be too dangerous to be imprisoned there." Andromeda turned back to the screen, searching for a specific phrase. "It says here -- unrehabilitatable -- " At this word, the young woman's tongue stumbled and twisted, and her cheeks flamed. Yet, she pressed on. " -- to the point that they were ejected from society to safeguard everyone else from the inherent corruptability of the criminal element." Her eyes were wide as she turned back to her new research companion.

"If this is true..." Her voice trailed off and she looked down. If it's true, I shouldn't be here. "But where would I go, besides here, to find out if it's true?"

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

With a wince, Cora dropped her shoulders and skittered into the proffered chair. It seemed that the rest of their conversation would have to be conducted quietly.

Back straight, legs crossed at the ankle, Cora rested her hands delicately in her lap. She may have been stripped of her noble titles, but it would take far more than exile for her aristocratic bearing to disappear. Even as the weight of Andromeda's searching gaze rested on her, she could only smile demurely.

Her pleasant expression tightened into one of focus as her eyes were drawn back towards the screen. Whatever information this girl had found regarding her homeworld seemed to trouble her- ah.

Cora's lips dropped into a frown at the mention of a penal colony. Clearly this was news to Andromeda as well, given the furrow of her dark brows and the waver in her voice as she spoke. Unrehabilitatable. Criminal.

"Goodness…" The blonde could only breathe softly in response, a touch of sympathy in her gaze. "That is…quite a lot to learn about your own home in one day, I'd imagine. And in such unsavory language, too."

While the words of the document were appropriately used and had a burocratic polish, the meaning behind them did not escape the pair of teenagers.

"Erm…" Cora bit her lip, unsure of how to advise the other girl. She peered closer to the terminal screen. "The seals on the document look fairly official to me, but I suppose…that it might be possible to mimic them?" Her voice rose a little, and she gave a vaguely encouraging smile that might inspire a bit of false hope. "I suppose we could ask one of the librarians to verify the authenticity of this information."

Craning her head from side to side, she looked around as if she were searching for one of the attendants to admonish them.

"This appears…unforeseen." She observed in a hushed tone. Not that Cora had any idea what life was like on Irvulix V, but Andromeda seemed surprised enough. It had been her home, after all.

"Does your family still reside there?"

Andromeda Demir

 

[Andromeda Demir]

​

Andromeda observed this golden-haired woman opposite, and for a moment she was reminded of the people she had seen in The City all those years ago. It immediately felt wrong in her head; she couldn't picture Corazona von Ascania with a whip in hand, couldn't see her doling out punishments for minor offenses. Looks could be deceiving, of course, but Andy didn't see reckless cruelty. But the way she settled into the chair, the way she looked, the way she sat -- that was the similarity. Corazona had the bearing of someone who had been set above Andy by God or Fate or whatever it was that decided these things.

Her face blazed in embarrassment now, discomfort at having confronted someone like Corazona with her petty problems.

"I... I don't want to ask them," Andy said, casting a furtive and suspicious glance over her shoulder toward the central librarian's station. An icy grasp clutched at her chest and she took in a shaky breath. Her voice lowered into an even lower whisper; it might have been a hiss except for the wide, terrified eyes that carried with them a hint of pleading. "My brother, Ares, is still there," she confessed. "My parents. But don't you see?"

The color was draining from her face, shame being replaced by a cold fear as her mind processed the information, the logic finally catching up to the instinctive reaction; why learning the truth of Irvulix V's status had set her into such a tizzy. "If Irvulix V is a prison, then I'm an inmate -- and now a fugitive."

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Out of the many mistakes Cora had made, asking about someone's family seemed to be a constant.

Andromeda's anxiety only grew from there, and Cora instinctively extended an arm, hand hovering over the other girl's shoulder. An aristocratic upbringing made her unused to casual physical touch, but she was aware that such acts were of normal to commoners. Even still, contact might not be welcome.

Cora took the risk, gently resting her hand on Andromeda's shoulder. She nodded once, shortly, an indication that she wouldn't push the issue of questioning the librarians.

They intimidated her, after all.

"O-oh," Blue eyes blinked, absorbing the same conclusion that the dark-haired girl had come to. "Th…that…might certainly seem so." She observed.

Inwardly, Cora cringed. That was not how you brought comfort to someone.

"So you would be considered a…fugitive," Her voice grew small, hushing even more over that word. "…by virtue of where you were born?"

Blonde brows furrowed; Cora's respect for laws and the various institutions that upheld them was strong, but that didn't mean that there weren't cracks beginning to form. Punishing a child for the sins of the father - or perhaps, great great great etc. grandfather - did not sit right with her.

"That's…it's okay, we'll try to untangle this." She murmured in an attempt to soothe, wide eyes creasing in concern. "You can call me Cora; I am a Padawan of the New Jedi Order."

The girl offered both her name and a small, sober smile.

"Can you tell me how you came to be on Coruscant?"

Andromeda Demir

 

[Andromeda Demir]

​

Andromeda fixed Cora with a wide and frightened gaze; it didn't occur to her until that moment that she was handing information that could have her shipped back to Irvulix V to a total stranger. Until she introduced herself, she was just another person in the stacks, a pretty face asking questions. Andromeda's eyes were filled with unshed tears, and she refused to blink for fear of breaking the surface tension. Her voice was strained by the lump in her throat as she said: "I'm Andy. Andromeda, really, but mostly I go by Andy."

The racing of her heart lessened in intensity and its hammering in volume. Once more she could hear herself think, could hear the soft humming of the electronics all around her.

"Cora," she began. "I don't want to get you in trouble. And I won't. I promise." Andy took a sharp inhalation through her nose and steeled herself. "If it comes to it, I will go quietly. I won't put up a fuss." She glanced over her shoulder once more, her fingers tensing on the edge of the workstation table, her lips pressed into a white line before turning back to Cora. "I'm a Padawan, too. I came -- oh, it's such a long story. You see, having a connection to the Force is absolutely forbidden on Irvulix V. Until I... left home, I didn't know there was anything else. Outside Irvulix V, I mean. I'd never seen a computer or a starship or anything like it. Anyway, anyone who is caught with the Force -- even suspected -- is executed. Because of The Disaster."

Of course, anyone who hadn't heard of Irvulix V wouldn't have the foggiest idea of what The Disaster was, so she quickly explained: "Many years ago -- over two hundred years -- the Disaster happened because of people who could use the Force. They exploited their power to cause a cataclysm. All the volcanoes on Irvulix V exploded at once. The air was poisoned, crops failed. So much death." Andy shook her head. "The people who run things, The City, blamed these people with a connection to the Force. The curse, they call it. The City cracked down hard. They rounded up everyone and executed them. And anytime anyone displays any kind of talent in the Force -- they are taken to The City and executed."

She paused a moment, took a deep breath. It was barbaric; how had the people of Irvulix V allowed things to come to that point? Because they were all prisoners, being governed by prison guards? "At some point, some of the village elders in the region where I live found out that the planet had been visited by smugglers. Some in The City use them to get things delivered from offworld, and to traffic what we mine and grow offworld for money, or to travel offworld in secret. The elders convinced the smugglers to get people who are Force sensitive off, too, before they could be discovered. If they could."

Another paranoid glance over her shoulder. "My family lives in a mining village. I was carrying water down to the deeper part of the mine when the mine collapsed. I don't know how -- but I made a kind of bubble, to prevent the mine collapsing around me and the others." Andy shivered violently, remembering the first electrifying taste of power, wrapped up in the terror of the collapse. "The mine chief recognized what he saw. He smuggled me out in a body bag, to a smuggler named Baig." At the mention of Baig, she couldn't help but smile. "Baig had an agreement with the villagers to take us -- people like me, and like you -- to a Jedi named Jasper Kai'el . That's -- that's how I got here. But I think maybe -- maybe it's all wrong."

The young woman closed her eyes, breaking the surface tension of the tears, and they raced out from under her lashes. She hastily wiped them away, but the feeling of guilt of having involved all these strangers what could very well be a criminal conspiracy -- well, that was harder to wipe clean.

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora listened quietly, giving Andy the space she needed to relay the harrowing story of how she'd come to be on Coruscant. It was certainly more than she'd expected – a thought which would remain unspoken but show in the reflection of concerned blue eyes.

"It's alright," She murmured, giving Andy a whisper of a smile. But things were clearly not alright, because the other girl was dealing with a personal crisis. Guilt and shame suffused the air between them, and Cora breathed it in steadily, swelling her lungs with feeling.

There is no emotion, there is peace.

That thought didn't sit quite right with her.

"I'm sorry for what you've and your people have suffered, Andy. From what you've told me, life seems difficult on Irvulix V. Especially for those sensitive to the Force."

Her immediate judgement had been that Irvulix V was a brutal world who treated its inhabitants with cruelty. Cora had only bitten her tongue because of how heavily Ukatis and their own customs had been judged by the Jedi, and she did not want to make Andy feel ashamed of where she'd come from, even if she'd been on the recieving end of injustice. Maybe Cora was leaning into her own feelings too much.

"I…can understand how that can feel wrong. I think." The hand at Andy's shoulder squeezed, and her thumb rubbed in small, soothing circles. "You've just learned something shocking about your home. If the mine chief went though the trouble to smuggle you off world, I can imagine that he did so with the intent of wanting you to live a better life. A free life."

Canting her head to the side, she chewed at the inside of her cheek.

"Rules on Irvulix V may work in their own way, but as far as Galactic Alliance law goes, I do not see any crime you've committed. Certainly, I cannot envision that New Jedi Order would expel you – or turn you back over to Irvulix V – for this reason."

The somber smile she wore seemed a little more lively now.

"I think you'll come to find that we are quite protective of our own."

Andromeda Demir

 

[Andromeda Demir]

​

Andromeda maintained her eye contact with Cora a few moments after her fellow Padawan comforted her. The human connection, among the first intentional comforting touches she had received since leaving her homeworld all those weeks ago, overwhelmed her with a dense mixture of emotions: embarrassment at the state of herself and her people; relief that she was not likely to be returned; a deep, aching homesickness and longing -- for the presence and touch of her beloved brother, her parents, her friend Tiny; despair at knowing she would never see them again.

This Cora was wise beyond her years, Andy realized. or at least beyond her apparent years.

So much had changed since the document on the screen, though, not least the cataclysmic pollution of Irvulix V. New governments, countless ones, had risen and fallen and risen and fallen. In the cooling light of logic that replaced the surge of fear and shame that had accompanied the document, she began to ruminate. Surely what held then, that Andromeda's forefathers had been violent criminals, did not hold now to their descendants. Why should the vast majority of Irvulix V continue to live in oppression for crimes that took place a thousand years ago, if they took place at all?

Andy's smile was genuine. "Thank you, Cora. I -- I don't know what to do about this information," she confessed softly, her voice barely a whisper. "But it helps to know I don't have to worry about being sent back." She thought about asking her level-headed acquaintance about what they could do about it all, but revolution in a centuries-old despotism seemed rather a lot to ask from someone you've just met.

Instead, she turned back to the computer screen and, after sending a link to the document to her datapad, she returned to the search page and deleted IRVULIX V from the box. "Where are you from?" Andy asked, glancing over her shoulder at Cora, her gaze no less inquisitive than the cursor blinking on screen, waiting for an input.

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora had to stop herself from heaving a visible sigh of relief. Often, she could not tell if her words were perceived as empty platitudes or helpful. Andy seemed a little more at peace, and that was what mattered.

"If I was in your shoes, I wouldn't know what to do immediately either." She admitted. "It's alright to take your time."

Her attention drew back to the screen, to the search engine, to the blinking cursor.

"I'm from a small world near the Corellian Trade Spine called Ukatis. Oh, but-"

So used to being proud of her home planet and the rank she held there, Cora had forgotten for a moment that she'd fallen from grace by slaying her husband, earning her an exile from the home and family she'd revered so much.

The blonde held out both of her hands, palms towards Andy, and waved them back and forth as if to dismiss the thought entirely.

"There's really nothing of note going on there, so it wouldn't be very interesting to look up. I…I'm sure that there are far better uses of your time than reading the droll news that would come out of a farming community!"

Cora's broken, awkward laughter was accompanied by the heavy furrowing of her brow and a vaguely panicked look in her eyes. Years of stringent, aristocratic upbringing couldn't mask her strange shift in behavior.

If Andy did type Ukatis into the search engine, she'd be greeted by a slew of loud headlines, all dated within the past month:

PRINCE HORACE FOUND DEAD IN PALACE GARDEN AFTER FALLING FROM BALCONY

CROWN PRINCE OF UKATIS CHASES MAID, TUMBLES FROM OPEN WINDOW TO DEATH

UKATIAN PRINCE SLAIN - VENGEFUL WIFE OR LOVER TO BLAME?

Andromeda Demir

 

[Andromeda Demir]

​

Unfortunately for Cora, the young Irvulixian was already typing in her query when she tried to convince Andy that it wasn't worth the trouble.

Andromeda was buzzing with emotion -- equal parts fear and excitement and relief and a dozen others she didn't have a name for -- and her fingers flew across the keys, ready to read up on this potential new friend's world. Was it normal? She bet it was normal. It sounded idyllic, as far away from the gritty repression of Irvulix V as you could get. "Don't be silly," she said with an impish grin -- which turned into a cringing wince when her words earned a retributive shhh! from yonder shelves -- over her shoulder at Cora as her pinky found the RETURN key.

Luckily for Cora, the young Irvulixian was ignorant that Ukatis was spelled U-K-A-T-I-S and not U-C-A-T-I-S-S and thus her query turned up no results. "Oh, you really weren't being modest," Andy said quietly, almost solemnly. "Well... I guess it could be worse than being unknown. Like being known for the wrong reasons," she ventured in a whisper.

Andy changed tack, closing down the search browser. She had had enough of wading through cyberspace looking for records for one night. "How did you come to join the Jedi?" she asked quietly. "How did you know you were... you know, c -- I mean, no, not cursed. Um, talented, in the Force?"

Corazona von Ascania ]​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"Er-"

Sitting bolt upright, tension wound every muscle. Cora didn't even realize that she was holding her breath until the search engine yielded no results, and she exhaled heavily in relief.

"Actually, it-" The blonde sealed her lips tightly before she could automatically correct Andy's spelling. No, that wouldn't be good, even if she felt the urge to extoll the virtues of her homeworld and insist that there would be plenty to read about as of late.

Fortunately, the conversation shifted into something more palatable for Cora. And, on second thought, perhaps not as palatable for Andy, but there was something to be admired in pushing through unpleasant thoughts out of curiosity.

Rising from her chair, Cora gestured towards the bookshelf she'd been working behind when she'd spied the girl at the terminal. "Help me put away the rest of the tomes? I was in the middle of returning some of the returned texts when I…took an impromptu break." One corner of her lips lifted into a half-smile. So long as they were quiet, Cora saw no reason why they couldn't continue their chat while working.

"I had a vision," She explained while leading Andy back to the cart stacked with books. "Of one of my younger brothers in trouble. He had a habit of running off into the woods, you see, but was always home before dark. One night he didn't come home. While my father and his men were out searching for him, I had a vision of Volk, injured after falling into a ravine. It only lasted a few seconds, but…oh, the numbers on each book show you where it needs to go.”

As she spoke, Cora glanced periodically down to each tome that passed through her hands, searching the label to designate where on the shelf to place it.

"I was maybe…twelve? I caught up with my father and told him what I saw. He didn't believe me, but they hadn't searched the area I saw in my vision yet, and…" She shrugged, her smile softening into something more distant. "He was there. Hurt, but he came home that night and healed quickly. When Ukatis was seeking Alliance membership, my father sent me to the NJO as an envoy. Or…a chess piece, I suppose."

Cora paused before the threads of bitterness could truly take hold in her voice. She was proud of where she came from, but her feelings regarding her family and the way she'd been taught to live were…complicated. At least being gifted in the Force was seen as an accomplishment rather than a curse.

"Does…anyone else in your family have the ability to wield the Force?" Cora's question was careful, eyes darting over to Andy, now aware of how sore that subject could be.

Andromeda Demir

 

[Andromeda Demir]

​

Andy was pleased to be invited to assist with Cora's task, and stood up quickly. She followed the blonde into the stacks with the books, listening to her story as she went. A vision! That must have been exciting and terrifying, given its subject matter. She worried enough for her own brother without getting a vision that he was in mortal danger.

"Cora, how awful," Andromeda commiserated softly, cradling the book she was sorting to her chest with one hand as she reached over to put a soft hand on her shoulder. To have such a vision and not be believed must have been infuriating and frustrating, and made all the moreso when she had proved to be right. Andy's relief was palpable in the Force at the resolution of Cora's story. Volk was saved and did recover.

Andy beamed. She did love a happy ending.

"Thanks," she murmured back at Cora's instruction about the numbers. She resumed tucking things away, carefully matching the number on the book to its location on the shelving. "Your father sent you away, as a child?" Andy whispered, and she couldn't help but feel horrified at the prospect. "To complete strangers? I don't like to judge, but... well. If I've learned anything since I left home, it's that there are all kinds of cultures and everyone has their own way. But still..."

Andromeda shifted down the aisle a little, crouching down to study the numbers on the shelves for an elusive number. So engrossed was she that she very nearly missed what Cora said, but some part of her subconscious seized on its significance, and she felt a cold stab of dread. "I -- I don't know, actually," she answered softly. Finally she found the correct spot and she slid the book into its place, but she continued staring at it, past it, into a void. "I read somewhere that it can run in families, and -- if it's true, they must be in terrible danger, but -- "

She fell silent. What could be done? She couldn't very well return to Irvulix V and pull them all out.

Could she?

Andy took a shaky breath and stood, taking another book to sort. "Is it common, that if one has it, others will?" she asked, glancing over at Cora quizzically. "Is your brother Volk... like us?"

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

The gentle hand at her shoulder earned Andromeda an appreciative smile. Compassions was in short supply among the greater galaxy, and it was warming to see that Andy's situation had not snuffed out her own sense of empathy.

"Your father sent you away, as a child?"

Cora mused on that thought for a moment. It sounded almost negative in nature when Andy said it like that, and the blonde took a few breaths to remind herself that not everyone subscribed to the particular flavor of Ukatian obedience and duty.

"He did." She answered easily. "I was excited to go, honestly. I'd grown up hearing fantastical tales of space wizards, so having the chance to become one was like a dream."

Of course, she couldn't have imagined the level of difficulty that had gone into Jedi training, nor the demons she would have to face both in herself and on the battlefield. Cora had always understood, on some level, that she was a tool used by her family to leverage power. She hadn't minded, and was even proud to serve as such until recently.

A surge of dreadful uncertainty pulled her attention silently back towards the other Padawan, and she took a moment to watch the features of Andy's face change as she responded. Cora felt a pang of regret for the question she'd asked, but an even greater curiosity for her answer.

"I'm not sure if he is, really." Her voice was tentative, wary that her own observations might not inspire hope. "I have seven siblings. Er-" She squinted into the distance, suppressing a shiver at the recollection that her mother had recently given birth again. "Eight, actually. One of my sisters is gifted in the Force, at least."

Cora turned her gaze down to the book in her hand, staring searchingly at the label on the spine as if some great answer would be found there.

"If you believe that your family is in danger…" She began with slow, purposeful speech. Her eyes flashed, attempting to catch Andy's gaze with her own. "…it might be worth explaining to the council. If people are being abused – especially due to being force sensitive- they might be able to intervene. Although…" Raising a hand to her chin, the blonde suddenly ruminated on her own words. With the Mandalorian threat on the horizon, the Jedi would be directing their efforts towards the rising galactic power, and less on smaller missions.

Andromeda Demir

 

[Andromeda Demir]

​

Andromeda was quiet for a few moments, thoughtful. What kind of family life must Corazona have had that she was pleased to leave home? Andy would have given much to be back at her mother's roughly-hewn kitchen table, eating the sour mush that passed for food in their village, looking forward to a game of cards with Ares and her parents after washing up. Life was hard on Irvulix V and brutally unfair. Her bones ached just thinking about it, but her chest ached harder knowing that she would never see them again.

"It all sounds very romantic," she told her new companion quietly. "Space wizards." She broke out in an abashed, foolish grin, nearly laughing at the prospect before remembering they were in a library. "I suppose that is what we are, isn't it? All the wizards in the books I've seen are old men with beards down to there." She indicated her navel, and then dissolved into a fit of giggles as she pictured herself and Cora with such prodigious facial hair.

Shh!

Andy buried her face in the book she was holding to stifle her laughter, quickly sobering herself. "Sorry," she said, then pressed her lips together in a straight white line to stop herself from starting to giggle again.

She proceeded along the shelves, tucking a book here, straightening a spine there. "Eight siblings," she breathed. "That sounds... exhausting. I had two brothers. Atlas -- my older brother -- was killed in a mining accident several years ago. I did wonder -- but we saw him, in the -- " She hesitated, couldn't bring herself to say casket. "Funeral." Cora's suggestion that she bring up the situation on Irvulix V to the Jedi Council made her feel a hollowness in the pit of her stomach. "The Council knows. If not everything, then -- enough." It had been a member of the Council who had collected her from Baig; she had been there when Baig explained everything.

The implication was unsettling, and Andromeda hastened to add: "I'm sure if there was something that could be done, they would -- but -- everything is a priority to someone, and it's such a big galaxy." She turned quickly, studied a shelf that she knew her book wouldn't go on. A moment to collect herself. She half-turned back to Corazona. "Where is home for you? Ukatis? I mean... on the map? Is it close by?"

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"Romantic indeed."

Blonde brows rose as Andy snickered at the mention of graying wizards with lengthy beards. Cora wasn't sure if it was that funny – and she was also unaware that she was being imagined with the facial hair of her Great Uncle Bertrand – but it lightened the demeanor enough to pull her lips into a genuine smile.

Nevermind the fact that there were very few elderly space wizards shuffling about. Cora vaguely wondered if that was something to be worried about, especially when everyone within the Jedi Order appeared young and attractive. Cora forcibly wiped that thought away as she sought out the appropriate slot for a textbook depicting the history of Kamino.

With the mention of Andromeda's departed brother, Cora caught her eyes with a sympathetic expression. She couldn't even fathom losing one of her siblings, and just the simple thought caused her chest to tighten unpleasantly.

"You're not…wrong." She sighed in admittance. Every corner of the galaxy seemed to be riddled with suffering, seen or unseen. It was practical to state that the Jedi Order, and the Alliance at large, could not solve every problem even if they wanted to. "When I first left home, I was very…sheltered. Perhaps I still am, now. I didn't know how widespread crime generally was, and I thought that spice and gangs only existed in holofilms." Cora shook her head, a wistful, and perhaps slightly bashful smile working onto her face. "I had no idea that I'd be facing those things on a daily basis. I had a lot to learn about the galaxy, and I suppose that I still do."

Shelving the last of the tomes, Cora waved Andromeda to the end of the aisle. "I'll show you." An information terminal had been built into the endcap, and the blonde Padawan flipped through the setting options. A holomap flared to life, bright blue and green lines creating a 3D rendering of the galaxy. "Not that close. Ukatis is in the Inner Rim, south-west of Coruscant."

Reaching into the holomap, she tapped on the appropriate sector and used two fingers to enlarge the image of Ukatis. Near the intersection of the Corellian Trade Spine and Rimma Trade Route sat a small, unremarkable agrarian world. A tiny sphere of light, practically indistinct from the sea of dots all around it. Cora stared for a moment, fixated on the map. She could feel her chest tighten again, but shook off the feeling and pinched the map so that it zoomed back out.

"How about Irvulix V?"

Andromeda Demir

 

[Andromeda Demir]

​

Andy was impressed by Cora's ability to pick her home system out of the map. Simply looking at the faintly glowing swirl gave Andromeda a sense of vertigo, overwhelming her with the visual knowledge of the total lack of understanding she had of the galaxy. She was embarrassed to admit that she didn't know where Irvulix V fell in this mass of worlds, so numerous that from the default distance of the map she couldn't distinguish one world or even one system from another.

She swallowed audibly and then, trying to replicate Cora's confidence, reached out to jab her finger into the light at the fringe of the galaxy. "It's... over here," she said, indicating the space between the Rimward Trade League and the Sith Order and the boundaries of habitable space. It wasn't exactly right; she was about four hexes off, but it would do in a pinch. And, so as to avoid the rap of being dishonest, she added quietly: "Somewhere around there."

It was far away from Galactic Alliance space, far from the influences of the New Jedi Order.

She understood, given the visual representation, that Irvulix V wasn't the Alliance's business, wasn't the Jedi Order's concern, especially with all the other threats rising in their sphere of influence. And despite the small footprint of the map, the galaxy was too large for anyone to take the problems of a beyond-backwater world to heart.

She withdrew her finger and smiled faintly while deactivating the map. "Now -- what's spice? We didn't have holofilms back home -- but I've seen them in the common room here at the temple sometimes," Andy said, only slightly defensively.

Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora watched passively as Andy gestured to where her home planet would be located - or an approximation of it, at least. The Padawan was reminded, in that moment, that not everyone had the luxury and resources to peruse star charts at their leisure. Still, as she squinted at that particular area of the projected map, worry welled at the back of her throat. The Sith Order hasn't exactly been burning it's way through the galaxy, but she'd been holding her breath ever since the scouting mission to Terminus. An enemy who wasn't dead in the ground would certainly return after licking their wounds, and even death wasn't enough to stop some of the more fantastically powerful Sith Lords.

It was only a matter of time.

Darker thoughts were smothered with a pleasant smile, perhaps a change of topic would be-

Cora blinked, surprise pulling the soft features of her face. That was not the question she had expected, and as the panic rose in her mind, she wondered if she was even equipped to give an appropriate answer.

"W-well, that…it's…erm…"

Somehow, she managed to maintain a haughty tone while stammering her way through a non-explanation. Pale cheeks flushed brightly, and Cora's only solace was that Andy hadn't asked her about the birds and the bees. After a moment to collect herself, the blonde cleared her throat in a most delicate manner.

"Spice is…"

Her head whipped back and forth suddenly, as if assessing to see if they were truly alone. The last thing she needed was a covert youngling running to Master Noble, embellishing their discussion beyond the educational.

"Spice is an illicit substance. Illegal in much of the galaxy, but quite addictive, I've been told." She whispered harshly. "There are many types, I certainly don't know them all, but it is very common for criminal gangs to base their business around the spice trade. While we may encounter such things during our work, it is very important that you never try it!"

In a frantic measure to convey how bad spice was, the conversation sort of turned into a lecture.

Andromeda Demir